Czechoslovakia's Vehicle History
| Population |
|---|
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| Tankettes |
| Lehky Tank - Light Tanks |
| Medium Tanks |
| Self Propelled Guns |
Early Days of Independence
In 1918 Czechoslovakia was established as an independent country by being separated from Austria-Hungary. This didn't prevent the Czechs from producing armaments. The Skoda Company of Pilsen had a world-wide reputation of producing guns. Shortly after they started to design aircraft and automobiles.
In 1927 CKD (Ceskomoravska Kolben Danek) was formed by combining 4 companies which produced tanks. Tetra was also a large producer of automobiles.
Early Purchases
Czechoslovakia did purchase 7 FT-17s from France after being formed as a country.
Early Designs
In the early 20s Skoda started producing armored cars for the Czechoslovakian Army. Tatra soon joined them in production.
J. Vollmer, a German who had worked in Sweden, cam and designed a wheel-on-track tank the KH50 at Skoda in 1925 with Tetra. In 1928-29 this let to the KH60 and in 1930 the KH70. The wheel-on-track designs were abandoned in 1934.
Czechoslovakia obtained samples of the Vickers Carden-Loyd tankettes from Vickers-Armstrongs. CKD/Praga developed a similar vehicle named the T33 (P-I). It wasn't liked by its users but were still produced for the army. Skoda produced a similar vehicle, the S-I, that was more powerful but it wasn't adopted and the contract had already been awarded to CKD. The Skoda model was sent to Yugoslavia for evaluation. The Yugoslavians decided that the model should have a 47 mm gun. This was designated the S-Id.
In 1933 CKD began designing a light tank (TNHB) for export called the LT-34 (P-II). It was 7.5 tons with a 37 mm gun. It was accepted by the Czechoslovakian Army.
World War II Vehicles
Skoda in 1935 introduced their S-IIa/T.II. It was 8 tons with a 37 mm gun. CKD became a co-contractor with Skoda and this became the LT35. The Czechoslovakian Army had the LT35 as their most numerous tank.
In October 1937 the Czech Defense Department formed a tank evaluation committee to test all Czech tank designs. A tank testing center was established outside of the CKD factory in January 1938. Two other firms (Skoda and Adamov) submitted vehicles for testing. The CKD's TNHS model passed the tests by going 3,000 miles and 1,000 of those cross country without any major mechanical problems. An order for 150 was placed.
On March 15, 1939, Germany occupied Czechoslovakia. Existing stocks and tank production was taken over.
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